22 Alphameric Data Points that Defined Nigeria in 2022 (Part 2)
Hope you enjoyed last week’s recap of the main events that defined life in Nigeria in 2022. Here are the last 11 points.
Living Standards
About 4 of every 10 Nigerians are multidimensionally poor and experience deprivation in at least one of the Living standard-related deprivations that the National MPI 2022 captures for each household.
The measures of living standards include: water; sanitation; housing material; cooking fuel; and assets associated with a household, according to Nigeria’s 2022 Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Report. The report further reveals that:
Source: NBS
Almost 1 in 2 (46.5%) Nigerians who are multidimensionally poor are deprived of access to improved sanitation facilities. Unimproved sanitation facilities include: flush to somewhere else or unknown place (not sewer system, septic tank, or pit (latrine)); pit latrine without slab; bucket; hanging toilet or latrine; and no or other non-improved sanitation facility.
Source: NBS
Also, half of the Nigerian population (50.6%) who are multidimensionally poor use dung, wood, or charcoal as their main cooking fuel.
Source: NBS
Furthermore, deprivations in the Living Standards of Nigerians contribute 33.6% to multidimensional poverty in Nigeria. This is second only to Health deprivations which contributes 34.4%, ahead of the other two dimensions of poverty, namely, Education and Work and shocks, which contribute the remaining 17.9% and 14.1% to people’s poverty in Nigeria.
Multidimensional Poverty
Nigerians received with shock the findings by the National Bureau of Statistics that nearly 133 million people — are multidimensionally poor as of 2022.
This means 63% of the entire population experienced deprivations in more than one of the 4 poverty dimensions, namely, deprivations in health, education, living standards, and work and shocks.
Source: NBS
While 4 out of 10 Nigerians experience monetary deprivation, more than 6 out of 10 are multidimensionally poor.
Besides, 7 out of 10 Nigerians living in the rural areas are multidimensionally poor compared to 4 out of 10 in urban areas.
Source: NBS
The NBS explained that Poverty manifests not just in lack of income, but also in the lack of basic amenities such as access to healthcare, education, water and adequate sanitation, clean cooking fuels.
NNPCL
Formerly referred to as Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), NNPC was transformed from a corporation to a limited liability company, named NNPC Limited, in July 2022.
This transition was enabled by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which was passed by the National Assembly, and assented to by the President in August 2021,
However, Dataphyte’s Research arm, in its latest NNPC performance report, spotlighted “several issues of concern, such as high production costs, high credit sales, high indebtedness, low revenues and low gross profits, all linked to the poor financial management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and its subsidiaries,”
It noted that these “subsisting problems resurface as the government-run corporation transits to a private liability company”
In a subsequent report, Dataphyte reported that the NNPCL still struggles to make profits. “Despite the privatisation of the company, “Poor Production, Unprofitable Partnerships, and Unfavourable Expenditures are a Noose on the Neck of NNPCLs Profits, the company’s half-year accounts showed.
Obidient Movement
The Obidient movement, a diverse group of supporters of the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, finally launched a third force political arrangement in 2022 to disrupt Nigeria’s popular two-party system.
In its appraisal, the Financial times noted that, “Only a few months ago, the contest for Nigeria’s presidency in February’s elections was billed as a straightforward battle between two wealthy septuagenarian veterans who had been on the political scene for more than three decades.
But former state governor Peter Obi, a comparatively youthful 61, has shaken up the race to replace outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari. With his promises of frugality and accountability, he has attracted the support of a youthful, “Obidient” movement tired of a profligate elite.”
Obinna Kanu, a 25-year-old first-time voter, said: “The best-case scenario is that Obi wins but my personal goal is to shift the needle in Nigeria”, according to a report by the Financial Times.
“The current powers that be have to be aware that the youth can bring a third relevant party, ... Even if Obi doesn’t win but gains 10-15 per cent of the vote, we can show the older generation that has sucked this country dry that this is just the beginning and the two-party system is coming to its end”, the Financial Times reported.
Party Primaries
The current Presidential, governorship and legislative candidates emerged from costly party primaries in 2022, beginning with the outrageous sums for the purchase of party nomination forms.
“Already, research has established that high costs of electioneering is one factor that significantly limits the political participation of women and youth in Nigeria — considering that these two groups are also the most unemployed or underemployed population of the country, according to Dataphyte findings.
Yet, “Rather than a downward review of campaign spending limits for elective positions and ensuring a stricter compliance from political parties, earlier this year, the National Assembly (NASS), in the new Electoral Act, increased the campaign spending limits for the presidential positions from N1 billion to N5 billion. It also increased the limit for governorship campaigns to N1 billion, from the initial N200 million”, Dataphyte reported.
Dataphyte observed that, “While the campaign spending limit for Member of Parliament (MP) candidates in the United Kingdom is set at £8,700 (approximately $11,334) per candidate, Nigerians vying for seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives are allowed to spend up to $239,645 (N100 million) and $167,751 (N70 million), respectively.
“Of course, one could argue on the difference in political systems between the two countries; nevertheless, such a huge difference is probably indefensible for a country with over 90 million poor people.”
Regrettably, Nigeria’s 90 million poor people alone (of the country’s 217 million population) exceed the entire 67.5 million population of the United Kingdom.
Redesigned Naira Note.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has redesigned the N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
At the launch of the new notes in November 2022, President Buhari noted that ‘‘the new Naira banknotes have been fortified with security features that make them difficult to counterfeit.’’
The Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, added that the move would “control inflation, make policies more effective, ensure financial inclusion and fight corruption.
He cited other benefits of the redesigned notes, which include enhanced security, greater durability, attractiveness, and promotion of rich cultural heritage.
According to the CBN, the former N200, N500, and N1000 notes seizes to be legal tender by January 31, 2022.
Track and field
Oluwatobiloba Ayomide "Tobi" Amusan, OON, has broken the record as the first ever Nigerian world champion and world record holder in an athletics event. She is the current World, Commonwealth and African champion in the 100m hurdles.
She won the 2022 World Championships 100m hurdles gold medal, setting the current world record of 12.12 seconds in the semifinal, followed up by a wind-assisted 12.06s in the final. She won back-to-back Commonwealth and African titles in 2018 and 2022 in the 100m hurdles and is also a two-time African Games champion in the event, her Wikipedia profile reads.
Voter Registration
Unprecedented numbers of registrants, and young people towards the 2023 election
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced in October 2022 that only 9.51 million of the 12.29 million new registrations were valid.
When the 9.51 million valid registered voters were added to the voter register used for the 2019 general election, the total number of registered voters came to 93.52 million.
However, this was reviewed following the 54,264 objections raised by citizens on the preliminary register INEC published in November 2022. This now brings the total number of persons on the voter register for the 2023 election to 93.46 million.
Dataphyte reported that, “Although an increase in registered voters has not necessarily translated into an increase in voter turnout in recent elections, INEC has said it is targeting at least 50% voter turnout in the 2023 general election.
“While the commission has partnered with a number of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to drive more participation in the 2023 election, reports from different quarters of the country, particularly about the ongoing Permanent Voters Cards (PVC) collection, have not been encouraging as citizens lament the difficulty in picking their PVC which is the only thing that will qualify them to vote.”
There are more males (49.05 million) in the new voter register than women (44.41 million). This proportion is not significantly different from that in the 2019 voter register.
“A further breakdown shows that youths (i.e., those who are 18-34 years) form the largest voting bloc in the 2023 general election accounting for 39.65% of the eligible voters. This is followed by the middle age (35-49 years) — 35.75%. The elderly and old account for 18.94% and 5.66%, respectively, according to the Dataphyte report.
Work and Shocks
Deprivations related to Work and Shocks was the least of the 4 major deprivations that defined the people’s multidimensional poverty in 2022.
According to the National Multidimensional Poverty (MPI) 2022 report, “Work and shocks-related deprivations captured for each household include unemployment, underemployment, and security shock.
Source: NBS
This report revealed that, “1 in 7 Nigerians (14.3%) are multidimensionally poor and live in a household where at least one person is unemployed.
“More than 1 out of 5 Nigerians (15.9%) are multidimensionally poor and affected by underemployment in their households. A household is deprived if at least one household member aged 15 years and above is working fewer than 40 hours per week but is available and willing to do extra hours of work
Source: NBS
On security shocks, “A household is deprived if it is experienced at least one shock, and has not recovered at least ‘mostly’ from the most severe shock experienced
Source: NBS
“A household is deprived if it experienced at least one of the following over the past 12 months and has not recovered from the most traumatic event:
Someone got into your home without permission and stole or tried to steal something.
Someone deliberately damaged or destroyed your home, shop or any other property that you or your household owns.
Something was stolen from a member of your household outside your home.
Someone was physically assaulted (injured, slapped, punched or kicked).
Someone was raped or attempted rape.
Someone was killed in an attack by another person.
Household was displaced as a result of herdsmen, banditry, flood, violence between communities, etc.
Someone died as a result of conflict in the household
Xenophobia
Nigerians in the Diaspora suffered another set of Xenophobic threats in 2022. The South African government said: “This is to advise Nigerians living in South Africa to be vigilant and exercise caution in their activities due to the recent utterances of the proponents of the Operation Dudula and their threats to attack foreign nationals in this country”, the Vanguard reported.
This comes after the 2019 xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in which 10 lives were lost and many Nigerian business offices razed.
Earlier in the year, the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari had condemned the mistreatment of Nigerian students by Ukrainian locals and border officials, while the Nigerian students attempted to flee the war in Ukraine.
The President reiterated that, “All who flee a conflict situation have the same right to safe passage under UN convention and the colour of their passport or their skin should make no difference,
“From video evidence, first-hand reports, and from those in contact with Nigerian consular officials, there have been unfortunate reports of Ukrainian police and security personnel refusing to allow Nigerians to board buses and trains heading towards Ukraine-Poland border,” The Guardian reported.
Zoning Fails
The unwritten rule of the zoning of political offices by regions and religions, especially for federal political appointments, was finally broken by the traditional binary parties, the People’s Democratic Party and the All Progressive Party in 2022.
The zoning arrangement, with its rotation of the President’s office between the North and South regions on one side and the Christian and Muslim religious faith on the other hand, had been in place since the return to democracy in 1999.
Many understood the policy of zoning and rotation of the country’s president and vice president’s offices between the regions and religions was to achieve the purposes of national inclusion and cohesion.
However, following President Buhari’s 8-year administration, a government that, many complained, smacked of unprecedented nepotism in its appointment of persons of muslim and northern in significant national offices, the zoning formula has now been laid to rest, for better for worse.
Senator Bola Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate is a professed muslim who intends to succeed a Muslim incumbent, though he is from the South of the country. In a further departure from the norm, he has chosen a fellow Muslim from the North as his Vice Presidential candidate.
Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate is also a professed muslim and northerner who also intends to succeed a fellow northern Muslim incumbent.
The closest party candidate to this lost norm is Governor Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate, who is a professed Christian from the south seeeking to succeed a muslim incumbent from the North.
Also, in line with the (outgoing) norm, Peter Obi has picked Datti Yusuf, A muslim from the north, as his Vice Presidential candidate.
The Presidential elections in February will reveal whether zoning has failed for good. More importantly, the quality of governance, living standards, and social cohesion in the next 4 years will determine the wisdom of zoning or otherwise.